N.S.A. Contractor Arrested in Possible New Theft of Secrets

[DonViejo]

Source: New York Times

By JO BECKER, ADAM GOLDMAN, MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and DAVID E. SANGER OCT. 5, 2016

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. secretly arrested a National Security Agency contractor in recent weeks and is investigating whether he stole and disclosed highly classified computer codes developed to hack into the networks of foreign governments, according to several senior law enforcement and intelligence officials.

The theft raises the embarrassing prospect that for the second time in three years an insider has managed to steal highly damaging secret information from the N.S.A. In 2013, Edward J. Snowden, who was also a contractor for the agency, took a vast trove of documents that were later passed to journalists, exposing N.S.A. surveillance programs in the United States and abroad.

The information believed stolen by this contractor — who like Mr. Snowden worked for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which is responsible for building and operating many of the agency’s most sensitive cyberoperations — appears to be different in nature from Mr. Snowden’s theft.

The contractor arrested in recent weeks is suspected of taking the highly classified “source code” developed by the agency to break into computer systems of adversaries like Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Two officials said that some of the information the contractor is suspected of taking was dated.

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Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/us/nsa-leak-booz-allen-hamilton.html?emc=edit_na_20161005&nlid=57435284&ref=cta&_r=0

[LisaM]

1. Remind me why we contract this stuff out again.....

it always seems to work out so well......

[FrodosPet]

2. That's easy!

[Democat]

3. Soon to be a hero to some DUers as he undermines Obama/Clinton

Like the last one.

[GummyBearz]

5. Its quite a bit different situation

But understanding that fact would require reading the article

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. DUZY

[Egnever]

4. Very hard to stop theft from the inside

If you have physical access to a machine it is difficult if not impossible to secure it.

[GummyBearz]

6. It is hard

But as stated in the story the inside guy was caught. The protocol for going into the closed area is this:

No 2 way wireless devices allowed (pagers are ok), every disk drive in every computer is both removed and has its compartment bolted shut, no storage devices (USB, etc) are allowed in or out, no notebook is ever allowed to be brought out, the closed area "dark internet" is completely cut off from the normal internet, the closed area phone system is completely cut off from the normal phone system, every window in the building is completely shut with a phony picture in it that looks realistic from the outside, everyone with access is required to take regular polygraph tests in which they are asked "have you ever broken any rule" and "do you plan to break a rule" (very abbreviated). When you fail the first question you get sent to prison. When you fail the last question its immediate termination.

An extremely determined person on the inside may find a way, as we see here, to get information out. Its rare but possible, and he was caught

[randome]

7. A thief dumber than Snowden? Hard to imagine.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[Blue_Tires]

8. Ah, more "whistleblowing in the public interest"...

[GummyBearz]

9. Wow

Are you nuts? This isn't a whistle blower case like snowden was. This guy stole code developed by the US with an intent to sell it to foreign governments. I realize code can seem abstract, but it can be as devastating as an airstrike in today's age. Comparing that to someone who blew the whistle on 4th amendment violations is dishonest.